That This House Has Considered E-Petition 259892, Relating to Air Ambulance Funding 3
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DEBATE PACK Number 0057, 22 April 2021 That this House has considered e-petition By Aaron Kulakiewicz Melissa Macdonald 259892, relating to air ambulance funding Contents 1. Background 2 Summary 1.1 List of UK air ambulances and their locations 3 A Westminster Hall debate on the e-petition 259892, relating to air ambulance funding has been scheduled for Monday 26 April 2021 from 9.30-11.00am. The 2. Funding and operational subject for this debate was determined by the Petitions Committee. models 5 2.1 Public funding for air ambulance services in England 7 2.2 Air ambulances and devolution 8 3. Key policy issues 10 3.1 Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on funding 10 4. Parliamentary Material 13 4.1 Debates 13 4.2 Parliamentary Questions 13 5. News Articles and Press Releases 15 5.1 News Articles 15 5.2 Press Releases 15 6. Further Reading 16 6.1 Reports 16 The House of Commons Library prepares a briefing in hard copy and/or online for most non-legislative debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall other than half- hour debates. Debate Packs are produced quickly after the announcement of parliamentary business. They are intended to provide a summary or overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. More detailed briefing can be prepared for Members on request to the Library. www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary 2 Number 0057, 22 April 2021 1. Background The petition ‘The Air Ambulances to be government funded’ closed on 6 November 2019 and received 134,143 signatures.1 The petition set out the following: The air ambulances that operate around the UK cost around £12,000 per day to run and maintain, and are mainly funded through charity organisations. This petition is to ask the Government to fully fund the air ambulances through the emergency services.2 The Government responded to the petition on 3 July 2019: Air ambulance services are not NHS funded and are provided by 18 charitable organisations across England, with the majority of their resources supported by their own fundraising activities. We recognise that Air Ambulances provide a valuable service, including to remote locations through both delivery of a specialist team to an incident, and patient transportation back to treatment centres. Air Ambulance crews treat people in critical conditions who rely on urgent treatment before they can reach a hospital. They support the wider NHS emergency response on the ground, ensuring patients get specialised care in both urban settings and hard-to-reach rural areas. Many Ambulance Trusts across England currently work in partnership with Air Ambulance providers from the commercial and charity sectors to deliver services. NHS England works closely with Air Ambulance charities at a local level as part of their considerations of the urgent and emergency care mix in different areas of the country. The NHS Long Term Plan will improve emergency care for all patients, including those treated by Air Ambulances charities. Since April 2002, the NHS has been instructed to provide and fund the cost of some staff on a number of Air Ambulances. However, as decisions on the provision of services for the safe delivery of care are best made at a local level, the level of funding support varies from charity to charity; some charities fully fund their own medical staff on their ambulance, whilst others receive more NHS funding support. Both the type of service provided, and the level of funding support will be driven by local issues such as geography and demography. There are high capital and revenue costs associated with helicopter emergency medical services, including purchasing and maintaining helicopter provision. However, we have made provisions for substantial funding support in this and previous budgets to help ensure that Air Ambulance charities are equipped to provide lifesaving care to patients in need. This year, Air Ambulance charities across England have been invited to bid for a share of £10 million capital funding to invest in new equipment and upgrade facilities to support them in delivering services to patients across England. 1 Parliament.uk, Petitions: The Air Ambulances to be government funded (259892) 2 Parliament.uk, Petitions: The Air Ambulances to be government funded (259892) That this House has considered e-petition 259892, relating to air ambulance funding 3 The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Air Ambulances (APPGAA) is a group of MPs and peers dedicated to highlighting issues and opportunities around Air Ambulance services with policy makers. We will continue to work closely with the sector to ensure patients continue to benefit from these services. Essential public donations, combined with periodic funding contributions from the Government, will ensure these charities can have world-class facilities to match their reputation for world-class care, through a patient-centred approach which works for the population they serve.3 Air Ambulances UK represents the UK’s 21 air ambulance charities and wider air ambulance sector. The organisation estimates that “every day across the UK air ambulance charities collectively undertake around 70 lifesaving missions” and approximately 25,000 a year.4 1.1 List of UK air ambulances and their locations There are 22 air ambulance organisations in the UK, 21 of which are charitable organisations: 1 Air Ambulance Northern Ireland (All of Northern Ireland. Says they can reach anywhere in the province in approximately 25-30 minutes) 2 Cornwall Air Ambulance (Cornwall & Isles of Scilly. Average response time of 12 minutes to get to an incident) 3 Devon Air Ambulance (Devon) 4 Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (Dorset & Somerset) 5 East Anglian Air Ambulance (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire & Bedfordshire) 6 Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (Essex, Hertfordshire & surrounding areas) 7 Great North Air Ambulance (North Yorkshire, the North East, Cumbria & Scottish borders. 2 staffed bases at Langwathby, near Penrith, and Teesside International Airport, near Darlington) 8 Great Western Air Ambulance (Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset, Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire) 9 Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (Hampshire & Isle of Wight) 10 Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Trust (Kent, Surrey & Sussex, based in Rochester) 11 Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance (Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire) 12 London Air Ambulance (London – within the M25) 13 Magpas Air Ambulance (Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and across the East of England) 14 Midlands Air Ambulance (Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands and Worcestershire. This 3 Parliament.uk, Petitions: The Air Ambulances to be government funded (259892) 4 Air Ambulances UK, Saving lives: Top 10 Facts, Accessed on 21 April 2021 4 Number 0057, 22 April 2021 constitutes the largest air ambulance operating region in the UK. The charity also provides secondary cover to surrounding areas, such as Warwickshire and Mid Wales.) 15 North West Air Ambulance (Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire. Based in Blackpool and Barton) 16 Scotland Charity Air Ambulance (All of Scotland, based in Perth & Aberdeen. Say they can reach 90% of Scotland’s population within 25 minutes) 17 Scottish Ambulance Service (Not a charity – part of the NHS. 2 helicopters in Glasgow and Inverness, and 2 planes in Aberdeen and Glasgow, which are fully funded by the NHS) 18 Thames Valley Air Ambulance (Berkshire, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire) 19 The Air Ambulance Service (Consists of 2 local air ambulance services; Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland air ambulance and Warwickshire & Northamptonshire air ambulance. And also, the Children’s Air Ambulance, which is UK wide) 20 Wales Air Ambulance (All of Wales. 4 helicopters based in Caernarfon, Llanelli, Welshpool and Cardiff. Say they can reach anyone in Wales in 20 minutes. Their website also states they are the “UK’s largest air ambulance operation”) 21 Wiltshire Air Ambulance (Wiltshire and surrounding area) 22 Yorkshire Air Ambulance (Yorkshire. 2 helicopters; 1 based near Wakefield, West Yorkshire and 1 near Thirsk, North Yorkshire) The air ambulance organisations work in conjunction with the NHS ambulance trusts. There are 13 NHS ambulance trusts across the UK compared with 21 air ambulance charities. That this House has considered e-petition 259892, relating to air ambulance funding 5 2. Funding and operational models The governance structure of air ambulance organisations can be complex and varies across the UK. Most UK emergency air ambulances are funded by charitable organisations, with medical staff seconded from the local NHS trust. However, some charities employ their own medical staff. In addition, some air ambulance charities own their own helicopters and employ their own pilots, whereas others have contracts in place to lease helicopters. Increasingly, air ambulance services have been purchasing their own helicopters. For instance, Cornwall Air Ambulance service recently bought its first helicopter.5 Scotland is the only part of the UK to have NHS funded air ambulance provision. Factors such as employment of medical staff determine the information published about the air ambulance charity. For example, if the organisation employs its own medical staff, it must register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC report ‘A fresh start for the regulation of ambulance services’ provides some further detail: Working in support of NHS ambulance services is a network of air ambulances funded by public charitable donations that has been established across England. […] NHS ambulance services are able to despatch these aircraft to transport a doctor and/or paramedic to the scene of an incident over greater distances or to remote areas. Often this is much quicker than could be achieved by a land ambulance. Sometimes a land response will arrive first with additional care being provided by the air response. Dependent upon the location and condition of each patient the air ambulance will either fly patients to hospital or care for patients until the arrival of a road ambulance.